Saw some clown today driving with his snowplow on and pulling a lawn service trailer. I am pretty sure he was not transporting the plow based on the fact that he was out cutting grass. It was good for a laugh.

Well, keep in mind that the whole "Explorer" thing wasn't really an "issue" until people started dying. Then it made the news, and all that happened at first was a bunch of finger pointing between Ford and Firestone. Also keep in mind that Ford more than likely gets thousands of calls daily with people complaining about something or other. Then, the dealership honestly rarely gives a damn once you bought the car unless your their to buy another. The Lemon Law is something that most attorneys don't want to touch because all of the "presumtions" in it and having to battle with corporations that have super deep pockets. I'd bet that there are still some "Explorer" suits going on as we speak, and it's been what, 5 years? Once it hits the news at 6 then any attorney will jump on it, but until then, it's just another "report" filed on some $9.00 hour "customer service" representitive.

The way I'd handle it: Quit paying for the truck, file multiple complaints with Ford Credit or the bank that is handling the financing, and then let them repo it, and then when they file a suit for non-payment, file a counter for Lemon Law. Not that this is the "correct" way to handle it, but hey, I wouldn't pay for the POS.

Saw some clown today driving with his snowplow on and pulling a lawn service trailer. I am pretty sure he was not transporting the plow based on the fact that he was out cutting grass. It was good for a laugh.

I'm serious. I doubt it would get to repo, but it will attract attention. If you think about it, no jury in it's right mind would make you pay the bill if you have a well documented case. A friend of mine did that with his Audi. He bought a new Audi (the cheap one) and had nothing but problems with it. On the way home from the dealer the night he took delivery it died on I75 and had to be towed back to the dealer. After that it was nothing but electrical gremlins. He called and called and got nowhere with customer service. They kept claiming it was fixed and he still had problems to the point he was scared to drive it to work because he didn't want to be late. He worked at General Dynamics and they are strict on punctuality, and the car made him late a few times in the past. After 6 months of dealing with it, he finally quit paying the bill, and after two months they started calling him. He talked to a bunch of people and one day they called and said they were going to repo it if he didn't send them money that day. His answer to a supervisor was "Go ahead, but you better bring a tow truck because the POS doesn't always start." He documented everything and took it to trial. They ended up repo'n the car and I guess they sold it or whatever and sent him a bill for $11K saying that was what he owed after the car was sold. He fought it in court and won. The jury not only squashed the debt, but also made Audi pay him $3K in damages, and then remove any derogatory marks off his credit. It worked for him. Who knows though. Some juries don't have common sense. I wouldn't pay it though. Especially after multiple attempts to rectify the situation with no solution other than give up.

The law imposes a duty of repair upon the manufacturer, agent or dealer. If the manufacturer or dealer is unable to repair the problem after a reasonable number of attempts, or if the vehicle is out of service for more than 30 days, then the buyer may elect a refund of the purchase price (including sales tax) or a comparable replacement vehicle. Prior to refund or replacement, the buyer must first participate in any mediation procedure that the manufacturer has established.

The only thing is, what is the "reasonable number of attempts?" You more or less gotta lose your car for 30 days due to downtime in service for attempted repair, or you have to go back and forth to the dealer X number of times which is determined later I guess? Gee.. sounds fair to me.

Then:

(b) The new motor vehicle is out of service because of repairs for a total of 30 or more days or parts of days during the term of the manufacturer's express warranty, or within 1 year from the date of delivery to the original consumer, whichever is earlier. The consumer, or his or her representative, before availing himself or herself of a remedy provided under subsection (1), and after the vehicle has been out of service for at least 25 days in a repair facility, shall give written notification by return receipt service to the manufacturer of the need for repair of the defect or condition in order to allow the manufacturer an opportunity to cure the defect or condition. The manufacturer shall notify the consumer as soon as reasonably possible of a reasonably accessible repair facility. After delivery of the vehicle to the designated repair facility, the manufacturer has 5 business days to repair the defect or condition.

So, first you have to go back and forth X number of times for the same problem. Then, it has the truck has to be out of commission for atleast 25 days. Then, you have to provide the manufacturer written notificaiton by certified mail and they have 5 days to respond, at which time they'll schedule a mediation hearing 6 months down the road. In the mean time, your paying hundreds if not close to a thousand dollars for a truck sitting in your driveway collecting spider webs that your afraid to drive. After all that crap, wasted money, and not having a truck, you'll be lucky to either:

A. Get a new truck
B. Get rid of your truck, get all the money you paid back.

If you then elect to get your money back, you can plan on waiting 7-10 "business days" to get your money.

Yeah, thanks but no thanks. Your better of running it into a telephone pole and calling the insurance company or just letting them repo it and explain your case with documents to a jury. You'll be in court faster on the repo than you will on the Lemon Law, if in this specifc case you are still alive after the problem happens again.

Oh, one other option. Take it down to Grosse Pointe and park it with LCO logo's on it. Park it on one of the streets. Guaranteed to be missing by lunch. Just make sure to have a trailer connected to it and it's as good as gone. And if you really lucky, the POS that stole it will have the same problem as you and will run into a barrier wall on I94 at 70 mph with it. Good way to kill two birds with one stone.